Conversion arrangement for suction cleaners



9, 1954 L. E. SEGESMAN CONVERSION ARRANGEMENT FOR SUCTION CLEANERS Original Filed Sept. 14, 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOB. Louis E. Segesman J! I I K E z ATT\ORNEY.

Feb. 9, 1954 E. SEGESMAN CONVERSION ARRANGEMENT FOR SUCTION CLEANERS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Sept. 14, 194

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INVENTOH. Louis E. Segesman BY w pa ATTORNEY.

Feb. 9, 1954 L. E. SEGESMAN 2,668,314 CONVERSION ARRANGEMENT FOR SUCTION CLEANERS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Original Filed Sept. 14, 1949 INVENTOH. Louis E. Segesman ATTORNEY.

Patented Feb. 9, 1954' CONVERSION ARRANGEMENT FOR SUCTION CLEANERS Louis E. Segesm'an, Canton, Ohio, assignor to The Hoover Company, North Canton, Ohio, a. corporation of Ohio Continuation of application Serial No. 115,668,

September 14,

1949. This applicationJanuary 26, 1950, Serial No. 140,711

Claims. (01. -333) Thisinvention relates to suction cleaners and more particularly to an upright cleaner which can be readily converted from on-the-fioor cleaning to oif-the-iioor cleaning with a minimum of effort.

, Specifically, according to this invention, the converter passageway extends from the rear of the cleaner forwardly to the fan eye. A valve is positioned in the converter passageway rearwardly' of the fan eye and is normally springbiased to close off the converter passageway from the suction passageway. The valve is positioned to be contacted by a converter tube constructed to close off the fan eye from the suction passageway and is connected to a linkage mechanism constructed to lower the front wheels to raise the suction nozzle as the converter is inserted whereby to act as a barrier to prevent insertion of the converter until the nozzle is raised.

A light spring biases the front wheels upwardly against a stop and is of just suflicient strength to hold the wheels upwardly when the cleaner is removed. from the floor. The arrangement is such that the weight of the cleaner also holds the wheels in their upward position and the latter force constitutes the main holding force. The mechanical advantage of the linkage mechanism connecting the wheels to the converter valve is such that it is difficult or impossible to insert the converter tube and open the valve until the weight of the cleaner is removed from the front wheels thus preventing insertion of the converter tube until the wheels are conditioned to be lowered by the insertion of the converter tube.

Further, according to this invention, the converter passage valve actuated nozzle raising mechanism is superposed upon a manually actuated nozzle adjusting mechanism normally actuatable to adjust the nozzle for optimum cleaning effectiveness for on-the-floor cleaning on bare floors, thin carpets or rugs, or very thick carpets or rugs. The two nozzle adjusting mechanisms are so correlated that neither interferes with the operation of the other.

According to this invention the front wheels are mounted on a crank arm spring-biased by alight spring in a direction to raise the wheels upwardly relative to the body of the cleaner. The manually adjusted range shifter is in the form of a rotary cam, operated by a foot pedal which cams the crank arm downwardly in adjusting to a'high nozzle position from a low one and permits the wheels to raise upwardly in adjusting from a higher nozzle position to a lower one. Regardless of the setting of the manually adnsane range shifter the various cam surfaces 2 act as stops against which the cranked arm is returned when the cleaner is converted from oiT-the-floor or conversion cleaning to normal onthe-fioor cleaning.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a suction cleaner showing the manner in which the converter tube is applied according to this invention;

Figure 2 is a side view of the suction cleaner with certain parts broken away to show the details of the converter actuated nozzle raising mechanism of this invention;

Figure 3 is a bottom view of the suction cleaner of Fig. 2 showing further details of the converter actuated nozzle raising'mechanism and how the manually actuated range shifter nozzle adjusting mechanism is superimposed thereon;

Figure 4 is a side view taken from the opposite side of Fig. 2 with the parts broken away and showing details of the manually actuatable range shifter mechanism;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary view showing how the converter tube coacts with the converter passageway valve actuated nozzle raising mechanism and with the fan eye to close off the suction passagey;

Figure 6 is a detailed view of the manually actuable range shifter nozzle adjusting mechanism of this invention.

This application is a continuation of my copending application for United States Letters Patent Serial No. 115,668, filed September l4,v

1949, and now abandoned. Figs. 1 to 6 of this application are duplicates of the drawings of the parent application.

Referring to the drawings, the reference numeral I!) generally represents the body of a suction cleaner. The body in is mounted forambulatory movement on adjustable front wheels I I and rear wheels l2 rigidly mounted relative to the body I ll. A pivoted handle I3 is provided for propelling the cleaner for normal on-the-fioor cleaning operations.

The body In is formed with a suction nozzle [4. In normal operation air is drawn inwardly into the nozzle I l by a motor driven fan I5 through a suction passageway I 6 (Fig. 3), fan eye I1, through the fan chamber and is discharged through a discharge passageway l8 into a filter bag 19.

An agitator 20 of conventional construction is rotatably mounted to the nozzle 14 and is driven,

by a belt 2! extending through the suction passageway l6 and over a pulley 22 formed on a shaft 23 extending downwardly from the fan It. During normal on-the-floor cleaning the surface covering is drawn upwardly against the lips of the nozzle l4 and is agitated by the agitator 26 to remove dirt therefrom by the combined action of the beating of the agitator and air drawn through the surface covering by the suction produced by the fan I5.

Extending rearwardly from the suction passageway IS and rearwardly of the fan eye I? beneath the exhaust passageway fills a converter passageway 2d normally closed by a valve 25 spring-biased to closed position by spring 26. Valve 25 is rigidly connected to its-pivot shaft 27, pivoted to the side walls 28 'ofthe'converterp'assageway 2 The shaft 2'! is provided with a pintle is offset therefrom by a crank arm 3% The pintle 28 is rotatably received in the rear end of a link 31-.

The other end of link 3| has an elongated slot 32 therein which slidably receives one of the pintles 33 upon which the front wheels 1' l are mounted. The pintles 33 are offset from a shaft 34 pivoted to the body l at 35 rearwardly of the nozzle ['4 by crank arms 35. A light spring 31 (Fig. 3) biases the shaft 34 and crank arms 36 counterclockwise as viewed in Fig.2" and is of just sufiicient strength to normally maintain the wheels in their upward position when the cleaner is raised from the floor.

Pivotally mounted on the body it! by a shaft 40 above the pintle 33' on the opposite side of the body Hi to the crank arm 3 is a cam 4i (Figs. 4' and 6) having three pairs of indentations 4'2, 43, and 44 selectively engageable with the adjace'nt pintle 33. Between the indentations 42- 43, 43-44, and 44-42, cam 41' is provided with cam surfaces 45, 46, and 41 respectively. Radially and circumferentially spaced from the shaft 40 and extending outwardly from the cam 4! are six pins 48, one for each indentation on the cam 4|. The pins 48' are sequentially engageable by the hooked end 49 of a link 50 having its other maliy biased upwardly by a spring 54 so that it will automatically return when pressure thereon is released and reengage the hooked end 49 of link 50' with the next pin 48.

Carried by the pins 48 so as to be rotatable with the cam 40' is an indicating disc 55' having offset lugs 58 carrying indicia markings such as Low. Med.,' and High to indicate the setting of the manually a'ctuatable range shifter. The indicia Low is opposite the indentations 42, the indicia Med. opposite the indentations 43; and the indicia High opposite the indentations 44. As shown in Fig. 4 the body Hi of the cleaner is provided with an opening 51 through which the uppermost indicia is visible from the top of the cleaner.

The lug 58 extends downwardly from the body I of the cleaner to contact with the rear end of the link 50 and thus from a stop limiting downward movement of the treadle 53. The suction passageway I6 is normally closed by a removable cover 59 normally held in latched position by a y suitable latching mechanism such as shown at 60.

All of the details of the converter tube 51- willnot be described as they are shown and described 4 in detail in the patent to H. B. White 2,450,846 and shown in detail in Figs. 5 to 8 of that patent.

As shown in Fig. 5 the converter tube 5| is insertable rearwardly into the converter passageway 24 so as to be positioned above the belt 2i and pulley 22 and has a pair of clam shell valve elements 62 and 63 normally spring pressed toward each other to close off the slot 64 which Operation During normal on-the-floor cleaning operation the cleaner I5 is propelled about over the surface to be cleaned by means of the pivotedhandle 13. If the cleaner is being used on a bare surface or a very thin carpet the pedal 53 is operated to rotate the earn it to move the indicia Low beneath the opening 5'5. If it is used on a medium thickness carpet the pedal 53 is actuated until the indicia Med. is visible through the opening 5'1 and if it is to be used upon a very thick carpet the pedal 53 is again operated to bring the indicia High beneath the opening 51. Whatever the setting of the manual adiustable' nozzle raising mechanism, the adjacent pintle 33 will be held lightly against the indentations 42'; 43, or M by the spring 31'. In adjusting from one position to another cam M is rotated and the cam surfaces 25, 45, or ll act upon the" pintle 3? to move the wheels until the pintle moves intothe proper indentation selected.

Regardless of the setting of the manually ad} justed range shifter the cleaner may be' readily converted for offthe-floor cleaning operation by tipping the cleaner body it forward upon the tip of the nozzle it as shown in Fig. 1 so as to remove the weight of the cleaner from the front wheels H. The converter tube El is then inserted into the converter passageway 24 so as tocontact the valve or barrier and rotate it to the position shown in Fig. 5 and to the dottedline position shown in Fig. 2. This will move the link forwardly, the rear end of the slot 32 will engage the adjacent pintle 33 and move the crank arms 36 clockwise as viewed in Fig. 2 and sirable that the weight of the cleaner be removed from the wheels H before the converter 61- is inserted to perform the foregoing adjustment of the wheels.

The machine may then be returned toitsnormal position resting upon the wheels H and f2. It is to be noted that in that position the nozzle 14 will be raised upwardly whereby the-surface covering will not be drawnupwardly against thelips of the nozzle is and the combined action of the weight of the cleaner and the spring 31* will tend to return the wheels H, the crank arm- SB, and the pintle 23 to its normal position. This will tend to move the link 3! crank 36, and shaft 21 in a direction tending toclose the valve or barrier 25 and thus the valve 25 will be held in 5. openpos-ition by the converter tube, to lock the wheels in their lowered position and in turn the wheels acting upon the valve or barrier 25 will cause the valve or barrier 25 to frictionally engage the converter tube GI and hold it in place whereby the body I may be propelled about rearwardly by pulling directly upon the dusting tool hose. 7 V

e To remove the converter the cleaner may again be upended upon the nozzle l4 to remove the weight of the cleaner from the wheels 1 l and the converter tube pulled rearwardly to remove it. Alternatively, a sharp pull may be applied to the dusting tool hose to forcibly remove the tube 61 from the converter passageway 24.

The positioning of the converter passageway beneath the exhaust passageway extending rearwardly from the fan eye between the rear wheels has a number of advantages.

The cleaner may be readily propelled rearwardly by pulling on the dusting tool hose without tending to tip the cleaner over since the pull is applied at a point below the center of gravity of the cleaner.

Furthermore, the weight of the cleaner is easily removed from the front wheels by grasping the handle and tipping the cleaner forward onto the tip of the nozzle to bring the converter opening into a readily accessible position for the insertion of a converter tube as shown in Fig. 1, making it unnecessary to use sufficient force in inserting the converter tube to raise the weight of the cleaner.

Additionally, once the converter tube is inserted, the action of the converter passage valve locks the wheels in their nozzle raising position and the weight of the cleaner holds the converter tube in place.

The converter passageway occupies the space not usually occupied and the converter opening is in an out of the way place where no special closure is necessary. The valve which closes the converter passageway is in a strategic position for utilizing its opening movement to lower the front wheels against the bias of the spring which normally holds them upwardly. All of the mechanism is hidden from view by the cleaner skirt.

The superposed manually actuated range shifter is specially suited for use with the converter passageway valve actuated conversion nozzle adjustment mechanism since the wheel pintles are normally held against the various steps of the range shifter by the same spring against the bias of which the conversion nozzle adjusting mechanism operates so that the wheels are automatically returned to their original manually set position upon removal of the converter tube. The spring which holds the wheels in their manually set position also holds them in their conversion adjusted position and aids in the holding of the converter tube in place.

Since the converter passageway valve actuates the conversion wheel adjusting mechanism It also acts as a barrier to prevent conversion until the nozzle is raised upwardly to a position high enough to prevent damage to carpets by the action of the agitator.

While I have shown and described but a single embodiment of my invention it is to be understood that this embodiment is to be taken as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense. I do not wish to be limited to the particular struc ture shown and described but to include all equivalent, variations thereof except as limited by the scope of the claims.

I claim: 7 1 1. A suction cleaner comprising; a body formed with a forwardly extending suction noz zle, a central fan chamber, a suction passageway between the suction side of said fan chamber.

sageway; a valve in said converter passagewayv and normally closing off communication between said suction and converterpassageways; supporting means for supporting said body for ambulatory movement over a surface to be cleaned; said supporting means including wheels movable toward and away from said body and normally biased to a position to position said nozzleat the proper height for optimum on-the-floor cleaning effectiveness and movable to a position to raise said nozzle to a proper height for oiT-thefloorcleaning, linkage means connecting said wheels and valve and operative to hold said valve in closed position while said wheels are biased to their on-the-iioor cleaning position by the weight of said body and a manually actuatable range shifter having a plurality of stepped portions selectively operable to form stops to limit the movement of said wheels relative to said body for adjusting said nozzle to varying heights for optimum cleaning eiiectiveness for various types of on-the-floor cleaning.

2. A suction cleaner comprising; a body formed with a forwardly extending suction nozzle having a downwardly opening suction mouth, a central fan chamber including a fan eye, a suction passage between said suction nozzle and said fan eye, an exhaust passageway extending rearwardly from the pressure side of said fan chamber to the rear of said body and a converter passageway beneath said exhaust passageway and extending from said fan eye to the rear of said body; supporting means for supporting said body for ambulatory movement; a valve in said converter passageway normally closing off communication between said fan eye and said converter passageway; stop means carried by said body; said supporting means including front wheels normally held against said stop means by the weight of said body to maintain said nozzle at the proper height for optimum on-the-floor cleaning effectiveness and linkage means connecting said front wheels to said valve to hold said valve in closed position when said wheels are in their normal on-the-floor cleaning position whereby said valve acts as a barrier to prevent insertion of a converter tube into said converter passageway, said stop means including a manually actuatable range shifter having a plu rality of stepped portions selectively operable to prevent upward movement of said wheels toward said body to adjust said nozzle to various heights for optimum cleaning effectiveness for various on-the-floor cleaning operations.

3. A suction cleaner according to claim 2 in which said range shifter includes a rotatable cam having a plurality of indentations at varying radial distances from its axis, a pin extending from said cam at each indentation, a link having a hooked end for sequential engagement with said pins and a foot pedal extending rearwardly to one side of said converter passageway and op- 7- arable to actuate said link-ta sequentially engage its hooked end with said pins and rotate said cam in a step-by-step manner.

4- A suction cleaner according to claim 3 ineluding a disc rotatable with said cam and circumferentially spaced indieia carried by said disc opposite each indentation on said cam.

5. A suction cleaner comprising, a body including a downwardly facing nozzle, front and rear wheels for supporting said body for ambulatory movement over a surface to be cleaned, a fan including afan eye carried by said body rearwardl'y of said nozzle, a suction passageway formed in said body and extending rearwardly from said nozzle to said fan eye and having a converter opening. at the rear of said body, a. valve pivoted to said body and normally spring-biased across said suction passageway so as to close said opening, an adjustable mounting for certain of said wheels, said mounting being movably secured to said body in a manner to raise said nozzle to a distance above a surface covering. upon which the cleaner rests whereby the surface covering will not be drawn upwardly against said nozzle by the suction created by said fan, said adjustable mounting being of the type in which the weight 8 of the cleaner resists movement ofi said wheeze to their nozzle raising position, linkage meansconnected' between said valve and adjustable mounting and operable upon movement of saidvalve toopen position to move said adjustable wheels totheir nozzle raising position, the mechan-ical advantage of said linkage means rela-- tive to the weight of the cleaner being such that it is necessary to remove the weight of the cleaner from said adjustable wheels inorder to open: said valve by the insertion of a converter tool into said converter opening.

LOUIS E. SEGESMAN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,448,397 Friend Mar. 13, 1923 1,582,692 Riebel Apr. 27, 1926 1,907,644 Fairfax May 9, 1933 2,126,362 Whitaker Aug. 9, 1938 2,142,810 White Jan. 3, 1939' 2,143,018 Kitto Jan. 10, 1939- 2,416,418 Taylor Feb. 25,. 1947 2,525,801 Howard Oct. 17, 1950 

